Practice report

MotoGP Thailand GP: Bezzecchi leads Martin, Bagnaia in FP1

Bezzecchi leads the way as the Thai GP weekend begins as Burirram

Marco Bezzecchi turned in the fastest time as action in the 2024 MotoGP World Championship resumed with round 18 of the season at the Thailand Grand Prix, the Italian setting the pace in free practice one at the Chang International Circuit.

The VR46 Racing Ducati rider hit the top of the timesheets in the opening portion of the session with a 1m30.492s to head off championship leader Jorge Martin by a mere 0.038s.

In a close run thing between the two title contenders, Francesco Bagnaia shadowed his title rival - whom he trails by 20 points coming into the first of three events to close out the season - with the third quickest time, while Ducati riders filled the top six in the order of Gresini duo Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez, plus factory man Enea Bastianini.

Best of the non-Desmosedici troupe was Pedro Acosta on the best of the GasGas Tech3 KTMs, followed closely by his stablemate Jack Miller on the factory equivalent.

As the sun begins to come down on his MotoGP career, Takaaki Nakagami had a welcome boost for himself and the beleaguered Honda fold with the ninth-best lap, ahead of top Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo in tenth.

As well as getting none of its riders inside the top ten, Aprilia also had to deal with Aleix Espargaro - who too will hang up his leathers at the end of the season - suffering a crash at the final corner. That meant its placed-rider, Maverick Vinales, finished down in 15th.

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	20	1'30.492		181.169	332
2	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	21	+0.038 1'30.530	0.038	181.093	336
3	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	20	+0.200 1'30.692	0.162	180.770	334
4	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	19	+0.259 1'30.751	0.059	180.652	332
5	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	17	+0.357 1'30.849	0.098	180.457	329
6	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	19	+0.368 1'30.860	0.011	180.435	334
7	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	20	+0.414 1'30.906	0.046	180.344	335
8	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	22	+0.507 1'30.999	0.093	180.160	333
9	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	21	+0.530 1'31.022	0.023	180.114	329
10	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	20	+0.648 1'31.140	0.118	179.881	330
11	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	19	+0.655 1'31.147	0.007	179.867	331
12	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	19	+0.679 1'31.171	0.024	179.820	333
13	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	19	+0.680 1'31.172	0.001	179.818	328
14	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	21	+0.694 1'31.186	0.014	179.790	330
15	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	18	+0.707 1'31.199	0.013	179.765	329
16	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	20	+0.757 1'31.249	0.050	179.666	329
17	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	17	+0.900 1'31.392	0.143	179.385	330
18	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	18	+0.928 1'31.420	0.028	179.330	328
19	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	20	+1.021 1'31.513	0.093	179.148	331
20	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	19	+1.051 1'31.543	0.030	179.089	331
21	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	4	+1.509 1'32.001	0.458	178.198	330
22	L. Savadori Trackhouse Racing Team	32	Aprilia	16	+2.088 1'32.580	0.579	177.083	323
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